The Choice is Yours: Collections in a Patron-Driven Climate
1. The Choice Is Yours:
Collections in a Patron-Driven
Climate
Eli Sullivan
@muELIbrarian | #b_c13
Miami University
Brick & Click Symposium
Friday, November 1, 2013
8. Miami University Libraries PDA
September 2010 - current
14,000+ records loaded to date
$25,000 initial investment
$75,000 total invested to date
1253 titles purchased (as of June 1,
2013)
http://bibweb.hh.se/blog-en/2011/12/07/download-entire-ebrary-ebooks/
http://usain.org/conferences/2003conf/sponsors.html
9. ebrary Triggers
10+ minutes viewing*
10+ pages viewed*
Print request
Copy any text
Download any portion
* excluding TOC & Index
http://library.austintexas.gov/blog-entry/ebooks
10. Miami University
Public University in
Ohio
15,000
Undergraduates
1,000 Psychology
undergraduates
2,500 Graduates
80 Psychology
graduate students
42 Psychology faculty
http://miamioh.edu/_files/images/display/footer/oxCampus.png
11. Miami University Libraries
OhioLINK member
4 libraries on Main
Campus
Humanities / Social
Sciences library
Science library
2 smaller libraries
embedded in
departments
http://instagram.com/p/dfgkcEKlWt/
31. Cost per Use Comparison
PDA
Ebooks
SelectorPurchased
Ebooks
Sept 2010 –
Purchased May 2013 FY10 - FY12
Total #
98
134
Purchased
Cost
$8,997.06
$10,134.19
SelectorPurchased
Print Books
FY10 - FY12
215
$16,611.86
Total
Sessions/Us
es
429
5454
494
Avg. Cost
Per Use
$20.97
$1.86
$33.63
32. Cost per Use Comparison
PDA
Ebooks
SelectorPurchased
Ebooks
Sept 2010 –
Purchased May 2013 FY10 - FY12
Total #
98
134
Purchased
Cost
$8,997.06
$10,134.19
SelectorPurchased
Print Books
FY10 - FY12
215
$16,611.86
Total
Sessions/Us
es
429
5454
494
Avg. Cost
Per Use
$20.97
$1.86
$33.63
33. Cost per Use Comparison
PDA
Ebooks
SelectorPurchased
Ebooks
Sept 2010 –
Purchased May 2013 FY10 - FY12
Total #
98
134
Purchased
Cost
$8,997.06
$9,939.19
SelectorPurchased
Print Books
FY10 - FY12
215
$16,611.86
Total
Sessions/Us
es
429
1568
494
Avg. Cost
Per Use
$20.97
$6.34
$33.63
34. Conclusions / Recommendations
Trust your users to know what is
http://jatakacs.edublogs.org/2011/02/17/test-tutor-drawconclusions/
useful
… and not go on a spending
spree
Ebooks of growing interest and
value
Viable alternative as space
becomes more of an issue
Model isn’t wasting money… at
least not more than traditional
model
35. Challenges / To consider
Shareability
Ebook platforms not
always deviceagnostic
Device / Network
required
< Monograph
publications? P&T
impact?
Digital preservation
http://www.kinecteducation.com/blog/2011/11/27/7-questions-to-consider-for-evaluating-gaming-ineducation/
Good afternoon & thank you for coming to my session.My name is Elizabeth (Eli) Sullivan, and I’m the Psychology Librarian at Miami University in Ohio.This session is intended to shine a light on collection development by looking at one discipline in the context of our growing and changing acquisitions options. If you tweet and would like to tweet about this particular session, feel free to use the hashtag #b_c13In the best interest of our environment, I opted to not provide handouts, but I will provide a URL to this presentation on the last slide if you are interested.
Traditionally, collection development has been someone who may or may not look like this…
… sifting through something that may or may not look like this to determine quality and value to users.Academic librarians in particular must build collections that support general and specialized education within their subject areas as well as research that’s occurring.The prospect of allowing “novice” researchers or faculty focused on a very specific topic to have unbridled control in purchasing made many librarians nervous.But most are aware of the 80/20 rule – that 20% of the collection is responsible for 80% of the circulation. In actuality, some how found this rule to be conservative. Some state it’s as high 90/10. So if we, the experts are selecting terrific, high-quality books that aren’t getting used, perhaps it’s worth considering alternatives.
One of the first experiments allowing patrons to have a “say” in collection development came out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2003, UNL began looking at their ILL requests and purchasing select titles that fell within a certain set of parameters (cost, publication date, no textbooks/pop fic/etc.)What they found was that not only were users selecting relevant titles, others thought so too! Patron-selected titles had a higher circulation and renewal rate than the rest of their collection.
Since UNL’s experiment in 2003, ebooks have emerged, ideally making the concept of patron selection easier than ever.
Before we go any further though, I want to clear up some terminology. It’s practically in our DNA as humans to love acronyms, and librarians embrace that concept whole-heartedly. All of these acronyms are used interchangeably…
… but today I’ll be using the acronym PDA.
Miami University Libraries began a pilot with YBP and ebrary in September 2010. The pilot was limited to an initial investment of $25,000 and was not advertised in anyway so as to prevent abuse.Library administrators determined it successful enough that it was continued, adding $50,000 more to date and more than 14,000 records in 3 years. In that nearly-3-year timespan, we’ve purchased over twelve hundred titles.
If any of the following occur, the title is purchased.
Before I get too far into the presentation, I’d like to give you some basic details about Miami and its libraries.As the primary focus of this presentation is on the psychology collection, I’ve noted the breakdown of the students and faculty that are supported.
Miami is also a founding member of OhioLINK, a state consortium of academic libraries. It’s through OhioLINK that, until 2010, a bulk of our ebook content was obtained, sharable to all members.The ebrary PDA pilot was Miami’s first step toward actively purchasing ebook content that couldn’t be shared statewide.4 libraries on campus…
Majority of the collection – and me – was/were based in H/SS library…
… quite a distance from PSY building
In 2007 a plan was proposed to move the Business & Psychology collections, then housed in the H/SS library…
in with the Science collections, to the other end of campus, closer to their departments.The renovation commenced in 2011, and that summer the move was completed…
Proximity
This move meant drastic downsizing for all disciplines involved. Prior to moving into the new space, the Psychology collection was reduced by nearly 20%, being either sent to off-site storage or withdrawn from the collection. Because of its’ high circulation activity, weeding parameters were more rigorous than other disciplines, often setting a non-circulation parameter of 7 years vs. other disciplines’ 10 years.Currently, our shelves are over 80% capacity and we strictly implement a zero-growth policy.
This purge was a challenge *because* items that seemed to be of interest to users had to be relocated.# & range of resourcesAccessibility - when library is closed, for sight-impaired (screen-readers)MU exploring distance learning options – forward-thinkingPrevents permanent borrowing
Over 3 years Ebooks purchased by selector with discretionary funds have increased from 35% to nearly 50%.Due to more titles being accessible…Cost / usage analysis will only evaluate content purchased during FY10-11 and FY11-12 but will look at usage through May 2013. Assumption that titles purchased FY12-13 didn’t have adequate time to circulate.
PSY = cross-disciplinary ; ebrary categories, but some general social sciences – author judgment… also, total PSY titles available via PDA over 3 years hard to determine as title list changes frequently.Circ potential – checkouts = unavailable for 3 weeks; ebooks = in “use” only while browser window is open
7.8% of total PDA titles purchased ; 8.1% of total PDA cost
Print books are often purchased at a discount.Selector-purchased ebooks are not. In fact, there’s a $2/ebook fee for MARC record.Striking how similar these price points are – for better or worse.
Average cost of PDA is 20% higher
PDA: Range = $17.56 - $224.95 ; Avg = $91.81 ; Median = $79.00Selector ebooks: Range = $13.95 - $295 ; Avg = $75.63 ; Median = $60Selector print: Range = $7.80 - $4292 ; Avg = $77.26 ; Median = $43.96… a couple high $ items skew avgMedian print is much less than e- counterparts.Print discounts are most apparent
As noted, PDA has an advantage in that it automatically clocks in with one use.Ebrary potentials catalog changes periodically due to publisher negotiations so it’s not clear how many potential “psychology” titles have been loadedUsage statistics for selector-purchased range from initial availability (i.e. shelf-ready or accessible via ebrary platform) through May 2013.Note median usage???
Note the high number of purchased titles NOT used within the first year to two years of purchase.Worth noting, *at least* the 78 unused selector-purchased ebooks are not taking up shelf space. :-/
Also worth noting that over 1/3 of the PDA titles only had the initial trigger use.
BUT nearly ½ of user-selected titles got 3 or more uses.Over 1/3 of the selector-purchased ebooks had 3+ uses, more than the ¼ selector-purchased print books.This is a positive indicator for e-format in general.Also speaks to PDA – though costs more, used more…
Selector-purchased print anomaly = textbook on reserve
Selector-purchased print anomaly = textbook on reserve
What stood out to me!Top 3 circulated items (or top 2%) = 1885, 1230, & 771 uses
But even adjusting for those 3 high-circulating items, the average cost per use is still <1/3 of the PDA ebooks.As it turns out, 13 selector-purchased ebooks – or 10% - accounted for almost 90% of the uses… holding somewhat true to our rule which is still a problem.But these numbers say to me that there’s still value in “expert” selecting.
As with other studies, users do pretty well at selecting titles others are interested in. By setting some basic parameters, they select items that get used at a higher rate than those “experts” choose.Users were conservative as far as # of items. The average cost could be explained that we’re just offering them $$ items.At least in psychology – higher usage--PSY – walking that line. Perhaps results aren’t specific to PSY…
Lack of shareability goes against 1 of the primary tenants of libraries – consortial agreements? Push licensingSomething we need to push as wellGreater reliance on high $ items to access information ; reliance on powerSmaller publishers (university presses?) go out of business? Conscious & active in planning for the long term